by Kenneth Copeland
by Jeremy Pearsons
by Gloria Copeland
SOUTHWEST BELIEVERS’ CONVENTION
A Week That Can Change Your Year!
Most people don’t lose a year all at once. It happens slowly—through distraction, pressure, and days that blur together until clarity feels out of reach and momentum starts to slip. And if nothing changes, the year keeps going that way.
But it doesn’t have to.
What if you could interrupt that pattern—step out of the noise—and reset your direction in just one week?
That’s exactly what the Southwest Believers’ Convention is designed to do.
For one focused, powerful week, you’ll be immersed in the Word in a way that’s hard to find anywhere else—hearing truth that sharpens your perspective, strengthens your faith, and realigns your path forward. Because when your faith is strengthened, everything else follows: Decisions become clearer; peace replaces pressure; confidence returns for what’s ahead.
This isn’t about adding another event to your calendar. It’s about changing the trajectory of your year. It’s about stepping away from the noise and into clarity.
Give God one week and watch what He does with the rest of your year.
Reset your year when you join us July 27-Aug. 1 at the Southwest Believers’ Convention: The HOMECOMING! It’s a time of refreshing in the Word that the whole family will enjoy!
Gloria and I consider partnership
a very sacred thing and are convinced that the principles of partnership are key to victory in these last days.
Partnership can change your life!
kcmcanada.ca/partner
1-877-480-3388
6 a.m.-4 p.m. PT, M-F
Get your free magazine kcmcanada.ca
Spanish edition es.kcm.org/LVVC
From The Editor
JUST DO IT WELL!
“The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do well; and doing well whatever you do, without a thought of fame.”
I was reminded of this quote by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow not long ago while watching a rerun of the TV show Shark Tank, the reality show featuring entrepreneurs making business presentations to a panel of investors (sharks) in hopes of acquiring financial backing.
Among those pitching their products was an older gentleman I recognized as Wally Amos— the guy behind the world-famous chocolate cookies known as Famous Amos.
In the mid-1970s, Amos had become an established businessman in the entertainment industry. He had just left his job as the first African-American talent agent at the William Morris Agency to manage his own clients. Having a flair for cooking, he often baked cookies and passed them out to people while attending meetings or visiting TV and motion picture studio sets. The cookies soon became as much a hit with people as Amos was.
“It reached a point where people wouldn’t say ‘Hello’ when they saw me,” Amos would later recall. “They’d say, ‘Where are my cookies?’” Before long, those same people were advising Amos to go into the cookie business. It was good advice.
In March 1975, Amos borrowed $25,000 and opened his first freestanding gourmet cookie store on Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard. Within months, he had two more stores and was selling his family-recipe cookies to many of the same people he used to manage. The media even dubbed the Famous Amos product “the cookie of the jet set.” By 1980, Famous Amos cookies had grossed $5 million. Five years later, sales had doubled and Wally Amos became a millionaire.
Unfortunately, Amos turned out to be better at crafting cookies than running a business. Financial woes led to him selling the Famous Amos brand, including the rights to use his own name and image on marketing materials.
Appearing on Shark Tank in 2016, the then-80-year-old Amos sported a new brand name—The Cookie Kahuna. It was the name he adopted after losing his cookie business and making a last-ditch effort at starting over. Amos was seeking $50,000 from investors in exchange for 20% equity in the new business. When asked why his first business failed, Amos told the sharks: “I’m a good promoter, but I’m not a business guy. My focus was not on how much money I was going to make, I just wanted to have a good time.” Respectfully, the sharks chose to not bite and Amos left the tank empty-handed.
To repeat Longfellow, “The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do well; and doing well whatever you do, without a thought of fame.”
The Bible says in Zechariah 4:10, “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin” (New Living Translation). It doesn’t always take doing something big to become someone famous. Fame is sometimes achieved simply by making someone happy. Wally Amos, who died in August 2024 at 88, did just that. He became a success by doing what he did well. And he made lots of people happy along the way. That’s the legacy he leaves.
Ronald C. Jordan Managing Editor
“We hold these truths to be selfevident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed
by Kenneth Copeland
Gateway to the Supernatural
As a born-again believer, you will never be satisfied just living a natural life. You’ll never be truly fulfilled just operating in the flesh as if there were nothing to you except your humanity.
You have divinity on the inside of you! Your spirit has been re-created by God in the image of Jesus and He’s called you to live supernaturally, just as He did.
What’s more, in your heart, you know it. When you read John 14:12 where Jesus said, “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do,” your spirit leaps because you know that verse is talking about you!
If you’re like a lot of believers, however, you may wonder how you’re actually supposed to live up to that standard. You might think, I can’t do the kinds of things Jesus did in the Gospels. I’m just a normal Christian. He’s God!
Yes, He is, but when He came to earth, He didn’t minister as God. He ministered as a man baptized in the Holy Spirit.
That’s why there’s nothing in the Bible about Jesus working any miracles until after He received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Until the Anointing of God’s Spirit came upon Him, Jesus didn’t have the power to work miracles. “The Son can do nothing of himself,” He said in John 5:19.
As believers, we’re in the same position. We can’t do anything of ourselves either. Even though we’re born again, until we’re baptized in the Holy Spirit, we’re like Jesus’ first disciples were right after His resurrection. They had His Spirit within
them (see John 20:22) but they didn’t have the power to carry on Jesus’ supernatural ministry. So, before He ascended back into heaven, He told them how to get it:
Wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence…. [And] ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you… (Acts 1:4-5, 8).
They took Him at His word, and if you’ve read Acts 2, you know what happened.
Ten days later, as 120 were praying in the upper room in Jerusalem, they heard a sound from heaven like a mighty wind, saw heavenly tongues of fire engulfing them, and “they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4).
Because it was Pentecost, Jews from every nation were in Jerusalem at the time. They heard what was happening, and the multitude came together and were confounded. “Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?” they said (verse 7). “And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?” (verse 8).
Notice those verses don’t say the disciples were speaking the languages of all those people. It says the people heard in those languages. So, the miracle may have been in the ears of the multitude as well as in the mouths of the disciples.
But either way, it was undoubtedly a miracle. Think about that! Speaking in tongues was the first miracle the Holy Spirit empowered those first believers to do. It was their gateway to the supernatural—and the good news for us is that God hasn’t changed His plan since then. Praying in tongues is still the gateway to the supernatural for believers today.
Ask and You Shall Receive Why is this good news?
Because speaking in tongues is something every believer can and should do. We don’t have to wait 10 days for God to give us the ability to do it, either. Unlike the first believers who had to wait for Pentecost to come, we can be baptized in the Holy Spirit whenever we’re ready. All we “
God’s will is
for
all
believers
to pray in other tongues. His plan is for every one of us to go through that gateway to the supernatural because there are a lot of benefits to it.”
“YOU CAN STEP OVER INTO A supernatural PLACE WHERE THERE’S NO TIME AND NO DISTANCE. A PLACE WHERE YOUR awareness OF THE REALITY OF GOD SUPERSEDES THE REALITY OF THE NATURAL REALM.”
have to do is ask our heavenly Father, believe we receive, and start speaking out of our spirit, trusting the Holy Spirit to give the utterance.
“But Brother Copeland, what if I say something wrong? What if instead of getting words from the Holy Spirit, I get words from some evil spirit?”
That’s a biblical impossibility!
In Luke 11:9, Jesus told us it will never happen. “Ask, and it shall be given you,” He said.
“If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (verses 11-13).
Any fear you have about praying in tongues is unfounded. It’s just carnal junk the devil is using to try to keep you from doing it. He knows that once you start speaking in other tongues, he’s had it.
You’ll be able to open your mouth and go through that supernatural gate whenever you want, and he won’t be able to stop you.
“I don’t know,” someone might say. “I’ve been told, even after receiving the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, we can only pray in tongues when God
gives us some kind of special spiritual feeling.”
Sadly that’s what a lot of believers have been told, but it’s not true. There’s no basis for it in the Bible at all. It’s just religious tradition.
Happily, when I received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit in 1963, I’d never been taught that tradition. I’d been born again about six months and I hadn’t yet spent enough time around churches to have much religion to unlearn. Gloria and I had attended a service with my parents. At the end, the man conducting the service invited anyone who wanted to receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit to come forward.
I turned around and asked my mother, “Is that something we ought to have?” She said, “Yes.”
So, Gloria and I both jumped up and went to the front of the room.
We didn’t know what to expect, and no one gave us any instruction about how to receive. The women of the church just gathered around Gloria while the men gathered around me, and they all started praying for us. Some of them hollered, “Hang on!” Others shouted, “Let go!” I had no idea what to do.
When they got tired of praying and sat down, Dr. Reed told me to lay hands on Gloria. At first, I said, “No.” (Can you imagine? I wouldn’t even lay
hands on my own wife!) But in his big booming voice he said again, “Lay your hands on her!” so I did.
Afterward, I was sitting in a chair on the platform praying in English and he touched me on my forehead and said to me, “That’s enough English!” and I took off praying in other tongues!
Later that night, I was flying back to Little Rock, Ark., to be at work the next morning, and I kept thinking about what had happened to me. So I prayed, “LORD, I’m not really sure what happened to me tonight,” I said, “but I’m going to say some of those words again. If there’s anything to it, anoint it.” (I don’t know how I came up with the word anoint. I guess I’d heard it during the meeting.)
I tried to remember something I’d said in tongues, spoke the first syllable, and that’s all it took. I took off again praying in tongues and prayed all the way to Little Rock. When I saw the lights of the city on the horizon, I realized I was going to have to talk to the control tower and wondered what was going to come out.
I was shocked when I said, “Little Rock approach,” and it came out in English. Hey, that’s good! I thought.
After I landed, I was so thrilled I jumped out of the airplane and danced around. Still talking and shouting in tongues, I BLESSED the airplane…I BLESSED the hangars…I BLESSED the concrete I was standing on and everything else I could find. And I’ve talked in tongues just about every day since!
Not Just for a Select Few
“But Brother Copeland, that was just God’s will for you. Not all Holy Spirit-baptized believers can pray in tongues like that.”
Sure they can. The book of Acts confirms it. In every account it gives of believers receiving the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, there’s an indication they spoke in tongues. You can just go down the list:
In Acts 8, the believers in Samaria received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and, verse 18 says, Simon (who’d previously been a sorcerer) “saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given.” Obviously, what he saw was believers speaking in tongues, and it so impressed him that he actually asked the apostles if he could buy this supernatural gift. Peter said no and rebuked him. “Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter” (verse 21). Or as it literally says in the Greek, “in these spoken words.”
Acts 9 records how Saul (later known as Paul) received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit after his conversion on the road to Damascus. We know he spoke in tongues because he later wrote in his letter to the Corinthians, “I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all” (1 Corinthians 14:18).
The pattern continues in Acts 10 in the account of the Gentiles receiving the Baptism in the Holy Spirit at Cornelius’ house. It says, “that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost,” and they began to “speak with tongues, and magnify God” (see verses 45-46). In Acts 19,
In Acts 2:4, the 120 in the upper room “were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and [they] began to speak with other tongues.”
With this compilation, you will be able to study the founding documents that established freedom in our country and be reminded of the work our forefathers put forth to make America a great, free nation.
the newly born-again Ephesian believers did the same. “When Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues” (verse 6).
Put all those passages together and the message is clear: God’s will is for all believers to pray in other tongues. His plan is for every one of us to go through that gateway to the supernatural because there are a lot of benefits to it. According to the New Testament, by praying in other tongues:
We can speak mysteries to God and pray out beyond our natural understanding (1 Corinthians 14:2)
We can build ourselves up in the spirit on our most holy Faith (Jude 20)
We can intercede for others according to the perfect will of God in utterances given to us by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:26-27)
We can receive revelation from the Holy Spirit whom Jesus promised “will guide you into all truth…and he will show you things to come” (John 16:13).
If you pray in tongues long enough, you can find out from God anything you need to know about your life and future. You can get into a place in the spirit where you experience what Jesus was talking about when He said that the Holy Spirit “shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you” (John 16:14).
Have you ever heard athletes talk about “getting in the zone”? The zone is the place where, after pushing themselves until, physically,
KEY POINTS
Jesus said you’re called to do the same kind of supernatural things He did when He was ministering on earth. (John 14:12)
Speaking in tongues is the gateway to the supernatural. (1 Cor. 14:2)
You receive the power to do the works of Jesus the same way His first disciples did, through the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. (Acts 1:8)
they don’t have anything left, athletes experience a breakthrough. They get a second wind, and suddenly something other than just their five senses takes over.
When you pray in tongues, if you persist long enough, you can experience that in the spirit! You can step over into a supernatural place where there’s no time and no distance. A place where your awareness of the reality of God supersedes the reality of the natural realm.
When you’re in that place, the divinity on the inside of you rises up and dominates your humanity. You’re able to receive from God whatever you need to walk in victory through whatever situation you may be facing.
I’ve experienced this time and again. I remember one time, for instance, in my early years of ministry, I was preaching some meetings in Oklahoma City and woke up one morning aching all over with symptoms of the flu. When I tried to stand up, the room would start spinning and I’d fall over. I couldn’t even get out of bed.
Unable to stand up to shave, I asked Gloria to help me. With me still lying in bed, she caught me by the hair, lifted my head up off the pillow and shaved my face. I don’t know what I looked like when she was finished, but with her help I made it to the church.
When I walked up to the pulpit to preach, however, the room started spinning and I almost fell on the floor. “I’ll be right back,” I said. Turning around, I walked into the little choir room behind the platform. Once there, I let the devil have it.
“Get your filthy hands off my body! This body belongs to Jesus, not you!” I said. Then I let loose in other tongues at the top of my voice. After a little while I got over into that place in the spirit where the body doesn’t count, and I went back into the auditorium. Grabbing the pulpit, I began to preach.
The first supernatural thing the Holy Spirit empowered the early believers to do was speak in other tongues. (Acts 2:4)
When you pray, you build up your spirit so that the divinity on the inside of you rises up and dominates your humanity. (Jude 20)
That pulpit started trying to sway a little, but I didn’t care. I’d gotten into the zone. So, ministering under the power of God, I did what He called me to do. I preached on healing for a couple of hours and walked out of there not only completely well but satisfied because, like you, I know that’s how I’m called to live.
by Kenneth Copeland
America’s Spiritual Heritage
In many respects, July 4 may have appeared to be like any other day in that summer of 1776. But on this morning, when the first glimpse of light broke across the surface of the waters that had carried them to this new land, one imagines that the handful who were in the midst of making history had long since given up any attempt to rest.
This was not like any other day. This was Independence Day, and the responsibility for giving voice to the principles upon which a new union would be formed weighed heavily in the hearts of the Fathers of this land.
Their words and writings reveal that what was to take place this early morning of July 4 was the manifestation of a long season of prayer...for these were men of Faith.
The words of George Washington, historically named the “Father of Our Country,” offered up a prayer for God’s BLESSING on the new nation: “We make our earnest prayer that Thou will keep the United States in Thy holy protection and that Thou will be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to [humble] ourselves....”
John Quincy Adams later said of this new society, America: “Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is fundamentally linked with the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the
progress of the gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer’s mission upon earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity?”
According to Adams, Christmas and the Fourth of July were fundamentally connected. On July Fourth, the founders simply took the precepts of Christ which came into the world through His birth (Christmas) and incorporated those principles into civil government.
James Madison said this new nation had staked its future on the capacity of each citizen to sustain himself according to God’s Ten Commandments.
Patrick Henry spoke of the foundation of this new government this way: “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists, but by Christians. Not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
A holy Faith burned in the spirits and guided the actions of all those who set in motion the establishment of these United States of America. Their own words bear testimony to this truth. And it is no accident that in the few words chosen to declare independence on that summer morning, the Name of Almighty God appears as testimony to the Faith of our fathers.
Happy Canada Day From Sea to Sea, A Nation Poised for Revival
Canada is celebrated for its majestic landscapes towering mountains, endless prairies, and pristine lakes. Yet beyond its natural beauty lies a deeper treasure: the undeniable move of God throughout its history. From its founding to modern times, Canada has been marked by spiritual awakenings that shaped its identity and destiny.
A Spirit-Led Foundation
Before Confederation, British Loyalists fleeing the American Revolution settled in Nova Scotia, unknowingly sparking revival. In 1776, preacher Henry Alline ignited the New Light Revival, drawing hundreds to Christ and spreading a wave of prayer and worship across Atlantic Canada. Later, during the drafting of the British North America Act in 1867, Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley, inspired by Psalm 72:8, proposed the name “Dominion of Canada,” affirming God’s dominion from sea to sea.
Historic Revivals
The 20th century brought fresh outpourings of the Spirit. The Azusa Street Revival of 1906 influenced Canadian ministers, fueling evangelistic meetings in Ontario and Quebec. In 1948, the Latter Rain Revival erupted in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, birthing a movement of prayer, fasting, and spiritual gifts that impacted nations. Saskatoon experienced a powerful awakening in 1971, where prayer meetings grew exponentially, and evangelistic teams spread across North America.
Then came the Toronto Blessing in 1994,
a global phenomenon where thousands encountered God’s presence in transformative ways. Its ripple effect strengthened ministries worldwide, including Alpha and Bethel Church.
Prophetic Destiny
Prophetic voices like Brother Copeland and Pastor George have declared a Great Awakening for Canada—a divine hunger for holiness and God’s Word. Recent words affirm that Canada is being restored to its Godordained purpose. As Isaiah 43:19 proclaims: “Behold, I will do a new thing.”
“The prayer that’s gone forth, the prayer that is going forth: that’s where the power release is.”
—Kenneth Copeland
Canada’s history of revival reminds us of what God has done—and assures us He is not finished. This is the hour of overcoming. Let us pray and believe for a fresh outpouring across this nation.
“O Canada”
“Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth” (Isaiah 43:19).
The stories of old help remind us of what we as people of God are capable of, and the beauty and promised glory of tomorrow assures us that God is doing a new thing in Canada.
Declare With Us:
Lord, our nation was founded on Your Word. We believe to see Canada turn back to You and experience Your presence! May we be moved with compassion and led by Your Spirit to minister to the lost and love one another. Lord, change our hearts and move in our nation. God keep our land glorious and free!
We also use the following excerpt from Canada’s original national anthem as a prayer for this wonderful land:
Ruler Supreme, who hearest humble prayer, Hold our Dominion in Thy loving care, Help us to find, O God, in Thee,
A lasting, rich reward, As waiting for the better day We ever stand on guard.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. O Lord, we stand ready for revival in Canada!
“He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth.”
Psalm 72:8
by Melanie Hemry
‘Uncle Sam’ to the Kids
“That’s a wrap!”
Those words signaled the live show had ended.
Eighteen-year-old Terry Horn climbed a 12foot ladder inside the studio to adjust a light fixture.
Pete Sumrall, the owner’s son, stepped onto the set.
“Hey guys, my dad wants to see you in his office right away.” He called everyone’s name except Terry’s.
This can’t be good, Terry thought.
Terry had never wanted to be a fireman, policeman or lawyer like others he knew, growing up, had expressed. His desire was always to work in television—going to New York City and
working at a major TV station. In high school, Terry had even taken courses in television and radio.
He’d never imagined that one day someone would come to his hometown and buy a millionwatt television station, much less hire Terry as part of the production crew.
Terry had been raised in a Christian home by godly parents. But instead of following the path of his parents, who chose to make Jesus the Lord of their lives, Terry had fallen in with a wild crowd. Yet here he was working at a Christian television station when he wasn’t even a Christian.
A few minutes passed, and finally the other workers returned with their last paychecks. They had all been fired.
“Terry, now Dad wants to meet with you,” Pete said.
Trembling, Terry walked into the office of his boss—Lester Sumrall.
“I’ve listened to the way those guys talked through their headsets since we hired them,” Lester told Terry. “They griped and complained all the time. They never showed any respect for what we do here. We’ve watched you for months and, even though you don’t profess to know Christ, you at least bow your head and show respect when we pray. That’s why we decided to keep you. I’d like for you and Pete to run the station until I can hire a new crew. How does that sound to you?”
Surprised, Terry’s words were short: “Fine, thank you.”
As he turned to leave, Sumrall pointed at Terry and said, “I believe someday God’s going to really use you.”
“That’s how I became Brother Sumrall’s No. 1 camera man,” Terry remembers.
Pete and Terry ran the station for weeks before new crew members were hired.
The Prodigal Returns
“A children’s evangelist, who had a TV show on the station, dressed like a pirate and called himself Captain Hook,” Terry recalled. “He needed a live actor, so Brother Sumrall asked if I would help out. I became Captain Hook’s sidekick, Scurvy.
“I heard a lot of amazing testimonies while working at the station. But one day in May 1974, during a three-day telethon the station was conducting, they interviewed someone I had known for years. He was a muscle builder who had dreamed of someday becoming Mr. America. One day, the man said, he noticed a lump just above his belly button. Exploratory surgery revealed it to be one of the fastest growing cancers in the world. They sewed him up and gave him 30 days to live.
“God had healed him. He didn’t die in 30 days but went on to win Mr. Indiana and other titles. I knew this guy. Now, here I was on the camera, and hiding behind the viewfinder because I was crying so hard.”
That night, after his shift ended at 11, Terry grabbed a bite to eat and just went home. Lying in bed, Terry kept rehearsing in his mind what he had heard earlier that evening through that man’s testimony.
“God, if You really want me to get saved, wake me up early and I’ll get saved,” he said
“The next morning, my eyes popped open at around 6:50,” Terry recalled. “I got dressed, went for a walk in the woods, knelt beside a log, and gave my life to Jesus. When I told my dad, he gave me the silver ring he’d made for his father. He put it on my finger. It felt like the ring the father gave his prodigal son. I’ve worn it now for 52 years.”
Soon after giving his life to Jesus, Terry received his calling.
Through his experience working alongside Captain Hook, he realized God was calling him to minister to children. He decided to move to Dallas, Texas, where he enrolled at Christ For The Nations Institute. At the end of the first semester, Terry returned home to Noblesville, Ind., during the Christmas break. While there, he visited the old TV station.
“I received a phone call from Lester Sumrall shortly after that visit,” Terry recalled. “He said, ‘Terry, I want you to understand something. I’m the only Bible college you need. Will you come back and work for me?’”
“OK, Brother Sumrall.”
“I’ve never regretted that decision,” says Terry.
‘Uncle Sam’ Is Born!
Terry later learned that not only was Brother Sumrall aware that he had received Jesus as his Lord, but that Terry was actively involved in ministry. By asking him to “come back and work for me,” Sumrall wanted Terry to become a recognizable fixture at the station.
“He wanted to personify someone unique,” Terry said, “not a clown or an Easter bunny. So, I decided to dress up like Uncle Sam.”
Terry’s “Uncle Sam” character quickly became a popular and recognizable fixture to all who visited the station on business. Pastors from cities across the nation began inviting “Uncle Sam” and his puppet ensemble to minister to children at their churches.
Over the years, Terry also served as a children’s pastor at several churches, including Bob Nichols’ Calvary Cathedral in Fort Worth, Texas; Robert Tilton’s Word of Faith Family Church in Farmer’s Branch, Texas; and Jimmy Swaggart Ministries in Baton Rouge, La.
It was at Calvary Cathedral that Terry first met Kenneth Copeland, he recalls.
“Kenneth Copeland Ministries offered Bibles and supplies as rewards and incentives for the children we ministered to at Calvary Cathedral,” Terry explains. “Dressed as Uncle Sam, I’d been ministering in a nearby neighborhood one day, when I went to pick up supplies. I met Brother Copeland and he took a liking to me.
“It was through my connection with Brother Copeland that I got to know Jerry Savelle, R.W. Shambach, Happy Caldwell and Marilyn Hickey. I also ministered to kids at the Full Gospel Business Men’s Association.
“Every time I saw Brother Copeland he’d say, ‘Uncle Sam, it’s good to see you again!’”
In May 1986, Terry met and later married Cynthia Sights, in July. The couple moved to
“CHILDREN ARE EVERY COUNTRY’S MOST PRECIOUS national treasure. OF COURSE THEY ARE THE FUTURE OF THE NATION.
EVEN MORE—THEY ARE THE future OF THE CHURCH.”
Washington, D.C., in 1990, where they established a mobile ministry called the Inner City Children’s Church and then later the D.C. Dream Center.
“For 21 years I ministered to children in the inner city, focusing on underprivileged youth, poverty, outreach and evangelism,” says Terry. “As much as I regret some of my choices as a youngster, those experiences gave me an understanding of how the mind of a child works.
“For example, when I was about 5 years old, I watched a cartoon character get hung. The next day, he was in the cartoon again. I didn’t really have a concept of death, and I didn’t realize it was final. So because I was intrigued by the cartoon, I went outside and stood on a box to toss a rope
over the branch of a tree. I put the rope around my neck and kicked the box over. I wouldn’t be here to tell this story today if a businessman in town hadn’t decided to go home for lunch. For some reason, he took a route he’d never taken before. As he drove by our house, he glanced over and saw me dangling at the end of a rope. He saved my life.
“Despite being raised by Christian parents and being in church, I let the ways of the world woo me away as a teenager. For a long time, I didn’t see that choosing my own path meant being led by the enemy.”
In 2010, the Lord instructed Terry to move to Jacksonville, Fla., and start an inner-city kids’ ministry. He said it would be unlike anything Terry
had ever done. After moving there, Terry went to work with the Lane Learning Center Several months later, he and Cynthia founded Metro City Kids, a ministry that featured a 15-foot box truck complete with a jumbotron screen that was used to show videos.
The owner didn’t need help with children, Terry said. He needed help with teenagers. Although Terry had never worked with teenagers, he agreed to give it a try. Within three months, the number had grown from four to 35.
“It was like working in Dodge City during the Old West days,” Terry remembers. “There were shootouts all the time. Drug use was so prevalent that the area was called ‘The Rock’ because there was so much crack cocaine sold there.”
It was hard to get people to minister in The Rock, Terry admits. But even the drug dealers appreciated what Terry was doing for the community.
Still Going Strong
Throughout the years, Terry and Cynthia’s work with children and youth has garnered much recognition—both on local and national levels.
In January 2023, for example, during a session of the House of Representatives, their Metro City Kids ministry was recognized for its 50th year of “active children’s ministry aimed at teaching good citizenship, along with biblical moral values.”
“Dr. Terry Horn is affectionately known as Uncle Sam, and he and his wife, Cynthia, began their ministry 52 years ago to teach Christ’s love, hope and healing in poverty-stricken areas,” the state representative, Congressman John Rutherford, said. “The Horns have brought the gospel message to major cities throughout the United States before finally being called to relocate to Jacksonville in 2011.
“Their current organization, Metro City Kids, is a faithbased mission serving Jacksonville’s inner-city children. Their efforts have had notable and tangible importance in our northeast Florida community. Metro City Kids works to connect children living in publicassisted housing to Christ, and encourages them
through weekly mentoring, Bible study and prayer to live a Christian lifestyle….
“The Duval County Sheriff’s Office, which I was sheriff of, reported that juvenile crime in public housing areas where Metro City Kids operated saw a 40% reduction in their first five years of service. That was an amazing, amazing accomplishment.
“Metro City Kids’ impact on Jacksonville is farreaching, and hundreds of children and families have been blessed by their dedication to our community. I thank Pastor Terry Horn (Uncle Sam), and his wife, the Rev. Cynthia Horn, for their ministry in the parts of our community that were most in need. Their investment in our next generation has made northeast Florida a safer, more loving place to live, and I thank them for that.”
Terry Horn has been ministering to children for so long that he now meets the fruit of his labors in churches across America. Sometimes they stand behind pulpits. Sometimes they step out of the choir.
One young man introduced himself to Terry and said, “You’ve got fruit in China. I’ve been part of a mission team that goes behind the Iron Curtain in China. We train locals to lead others to the Lord and how to pastor churches. Brother Terry, I’ve trained thousands of them. Those thousands have won thousands.”
“Only through ministering to children do you get to see a whole lifetime of fruit,” says Terry. “Partnership with KCM has been a great blessing in my life. I love the excellence of the ministry. KCM has poured into our ministry over the years. They pray for us. They’ve helped us purchase equipment and other ministry tools.
“The connection between Brother Copeland and me is far deeper than my Uncle Sam persona. We both have a core belief that while everyone needs the gospel, children are no different. Children are every country’s most precious national treasure. Of course they are the future of the nation. Even more—they are the future of the Church.”
For information please visit metrocitykids.com or scan this QR code.
Testimonies of Real-Life
Testimonies of Real-Life
VICTORY
VICTORY
Completely Cancer Free
Perfect Timing
‘Increase After Increase’
From Pain to Praise
In 2007, I was watching a broadcast with Kenneth and Gloria when they started talking about provision through THE BLESSING of the Lord. That message completely changed my life!
I would like to give thanks to all my brothers and sisters at KCM. Since last summer, I had been experiencing pain in my calves whenever I walked, and it eventually began to affect my knees as well. We prayed the Scriptures and commanded the pain and all other symptoms to
I have had MIRACLES of not only debt elimination, but increase
God is Always on Time
‘The Wonderful Name of Jesus’
after increase after increase! I NEVER dreamed I would accomplish so much in my lifetime. I am still in awe of what the Lord will do when you apply His Word!
leave my body. That same evening, I was able to walk for eight minutes without any pain. I give God all the praise for my healing, and I thank God for this minsitry. May God continue to bless each and every one of you.
P.S. | Ontario
GOD IS SO GOOD. Kenneth and Gloria CHANGED my life by teaching the WORD in FULL meaning! C.V. | Tennessee
A few months ago, I had severe pain in my back. It was difficult to stand upright and even walk. I exercised the authority we have in the Name of Jesus, like I learned from Brother Copeland many years ago.
I would like to share a praise report. My daughter’s bridge mortgage application was approved just 20 minutes before closing time! We are so thankful for God’s perfect timing and faithfulness. What could have been stressful turned into a powerful reminder that God is always on time.
R.C. | New Brunswick
A Good Report
Shortly after I experienced relief, and within days I was completely pain free. Thank God for His Word and the wonderful Name of Jesus that has been given to us! Glory be to God forever! R.G. | New York
‘Respect One Another’
I received a very good report from my kidney doctor. My blood numbers went up, and as a result, I do not need to go back to see him for another three months. This was very encouraging news for me. My psychiatrist also said that
Peace Through It All
I saw my doctor today and received wonderful news. My ears are completely fine. There is no infection and no polyps. As a result, no operation is needed. I am very thankful for this good report and grateful for God’s care and peace through it all. I am also thankful to the prayer ministers for standing in agreement with me in prayer.
J.P. | Ontario
The Believer’s Voice of Victory broadcast with Courtney, Grant and Greg was so refreshing. Their conversation helped me see that the strongholds of misplaced, nonbiblical hierarchies are being torn down in the Church! I learned how we can love and respect one another without seeing some as more important because they hold a religious title given by man. In addition, as we open up the doors of the Church, we need to experience the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit and receive His freedom from man-made formalities like never before! J.G. | Texas
I am doing well, which I am truly thankful for. I am grateful for this progress, for God’s continued care and faithfulness in my life, and for the faithful prayers I received through the prayer ministers.
Bring Home the Prodigals
P.F. | Ontario
His Protection
A few months ago, I watched the broadcast with Dr. Greg and Ms. Courtney when they were praying for prodigals. I was prompted to pray over my family’s prodigals. My niece, who had been on the streets for 20 years, came back to herself to get treatment. At that point, my sister spoke with her and was able to pray the salvation prayer with her.
A few months ago, I had a fall and was very concerned that my two hip replacements might have been affected. I felt worried and uncertain, so I called in and prayed with one of the prayer ministers at KCM, and I continued to trust God for His protection. Not long after, my doctor
J.S. | New Jersey
I watch Kenneth and Gloria Copeland almost every morning; one particular morning during the broadcast, I received a call that was infuriating, to say the least. So I got dressed to leave and confront the matter. The broadcast was playing as I walked to my front door, still very angry. Brother Copeland stopped talking about the subject he was discussing and said to the cameras, “Don’t you go over there angry,” and then he elaborated. I was astonished—the timing was perfect.
A year ago, I called in for prayer for my nephew, who had been diagnosed with tongue cancer. He underwent surgery where many lymph nodes were removed from his neck, chest, and arms, along with part of his tongue. It was a challenging time for our family, but we chose to stand in faith. Just two days ago, his doctor declared that he is completely cancer free. We are so thankful for God’s healing power and faithfulness. All glory to God, and blessings to the KCM Prayer Team who stood with us in faith throughout this journey.
S.H. | Ontario
I had to sit down and listen. God, through this broadcast, literally stopped me in my tracks. Who knows what kind of trouble awaited me if I had gone there that day. I stayed home instead.
confirmed that my hip replacements were not affected at all. This news brought such peace and relief to my heart. Thank You, Lord, for Your hand upon me, Your constant care, and Your protection over my life. Praise the Lord!
God protected me through a message delivered by Brother Copeland over the airways.
I am grateful! D.B. | Missouri
E.L. | British Columbia
THROUGH THE BIBLE JULY
If you do not know Jesus as your Savior and Lord, simply pray the following prayer in faith, and Jesus will be your Lord!
Heavenly Father, I come to You in the Name of Jesus. Your Word says, “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved” and “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Acts 2:21; Romans 10:9). You said my salvation would be the result of Your Holy Spirit giving me new birth by coming to live in me (John 3:5-6, 15-16; Romans 8:9-11) and that if I would ask, You would fill me with Your Spirit and give me the ability to speak with other tongues (Luke 11:13; Acts 2:4).
I take You at Your Word. I confess that Jesus is Lord. And I believe in my heart that You raised Him from the dead. Thank You for coming into my heart, for giving me Your Holy Spirit as You have promised, and for being Lord over my life. Amen.
If you have just prayed this prayer, please let us know of your decision. Call or go to kcmcanada.ca/salvation. We have a Free Gift to help you begin your new life in Jesus! 1-877-480-3388 6
by Keith Moore
Fully Persuaded, Completely at
RestHave you ever noticed when a child has something he or she doesn’t want you to have, they will hold it tightly and say something like, “No, it’s MINE!” They won’t let go of it or let you pry it out of their hands without a fight! They have what they want, and they’re not afraid to say it’s theirs—that it belongs to them!
If only Christians had the same tenacity when it comes to their fight against the devil!
It’s a fight, all right! In fact, in a letter he wrote to encourage Timothy, Paul called it “the good fight of faith.” He said, “Fight the good fight of
faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses” (1 Timothy 6:12).
How do we fight this good fight of faith?
That verse we just read tells us. It says to “lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession.” Profession is a King James word for confession. So, we can see that laying hold is a part of fighting the good fight, and so is confession. Like that child, we have to lay hold
"You don’t have to understand in order to believe or trust. That’s because faith is a choice. Believing is a choice, and trusting is a choice."
of what we want, confess that it’s ours, and not give up without a fight!
What do we use to fight?
Our faith!
Second Corinthians 4:13 says, “We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak.” Here, Paul refers to the spirit of faith. The Bible also says we’ve not been given the spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7). The spirit of faith is not knowledge of faith, and the spirit of fear is not just feelings of fear. Faith is not knowledge, and faith is not understanding. Understanding is not required for faith. You don’t have to understand in order to believe or trust. That’s because faith is a choice. Believing is a choice, and trusting is a choice.
You hear people say, “I just can’t believe that! That’s not true!” But that’s an untrue statement because faith is not based on any kind of understanding or any kind of knowledge. It’s a choice. Brother Kenneth E. Hagin once said that, as a little boy, he could not understand how a brown cow could eat green grass and give white milk, and then that milk would be churned to make yellow butter. Yet all the while he’s trying to figure it out, he’s enjoying milk and butter. He’s enjoying ice cream. You don’t have to understand in order to believe. You don’t have to understand to enjoy.
Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” So faith and understanding are not the same thing. He’s drawing a contrast. What part of your being do you trust with? Not your head. In fact, Brother Hagin used to say, “Faith will work in your heart with doubt in your head.” The enemy will try to make you believe that a fleeting thought is the same as wavering and that you won’t receive a thing (James 1:6-7). Just because a feeling or thought crossed your mind doesn’t mean you changed your decision to believe in your heart.
Walking In Faith Doesn’t
Mean
You Won’t Have Challenges
Why does God tell you not to lean to your own understanding? Because you’ll be tempted to. He’s telling you upfront not to lean to your own understanding—your own head, your own reasonings, thoughts or feelings. If the enemy can get you in the reasoning realm, he’ll defeat you. But if you’ll stay in the faith realm, he can’t do anything with you. No matter how many negative thoughts he brings to you, no matter how many bad feelings, you won’t yield. You’ll push them aside and say, “No. I’ve decided what I believe.” You’re settled in your heart.
Second Corinthians 4:8-9 says, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.”
“We are troubled on every side.”
That word troubled means “to be crowded, pushed or pressed.” Do you ever feel like something is pushing against you? That something is pressuring you? Paul said it’s on every side. It’s not a lack of faith to acknowledge something you’re dealing with. Faith is not calling those things that are as though they are not. No, faith is calling things that are not as though they are! The physical is real! It’s temporary, but it’s real. Something is going to push on you. That’s
Anyone can be up when the money is in your hand, or the symptoms are gone and you feel great. But when you’re hurting and you rejoice because you’re healed—that’s real faith.” “
a reality. You can’t control everything that tries to push on you. But what you are in control of is your response to it.
Paul says we’ve been troubled on every side. We’ve been pressed and pushed, yet with all the trouble, with all the pushing and pressing, we’re not distressed. Is it possible to not be distressed, even in the midst of stuff pushing against you and pressuring you? Yes. Is it easy? This is where the fight of faith comes in.
What Are You Fighting To Do?
Hebrews 4:11 says we are to “labour therefore to enter into that rest.” That’s where the fight comes: Staying in that rest after you’ve entered in. The enemy will do everything in his power to keep you out of that rest. And once you’ve entered in, he’ll do everything possible to get you out. Out of rest, out of peace, out of trust, out of faith.
The Lord has heard your prayer. Your seed is in the ground, your work is done, and faith has been released. But that’s not the end of it, because at that point, you haven’t seen anything yet. You don’t feel it. And, in the natural, you need it. You need the money. You still hurt. You’re still uncomfortable. This is where the fight comes in. Can you be pushed, can you be pressed and
not be distressed?
This is the spirit of faith. We are perplexed, meaning we’re at a loss. But although we’re perplexed, the scripture says we’re not in despair. Can you be perplexed and clueless and still be up instead of down? If you’re in faith you can. You can be clueless and happy. It’s possible!
Faith people would never say something like, “Why isn’t it working?” Why would you believe it’s not working? Because of what you see and feel, or don’t see and feel? If that’s the case, then you’re walking by sight, not by faith. Faith is up. Anyone can be up when the money is in your hand, or the symptoms are gone and you feel great. But when you’re hurting and you rejoice because you’re healed—that’s real faith. Real faith has real joy and real peace in the midst of contradictions, symptoms and lack.
The Spirit of Faith Is the Spirit of Victory
If God were moved by needs and people acting pitiful, miracles would be popping up all over the planet. But that’s not what moves God. God is moved by faith. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. Faith will never acknowledge that it’s whipped, because it can’t be whipped. It will never acknowledge that God’s Word didn’t work, because God’s Word works—always!
Faith will never concede defeat!
There are many Christians who don’t always understand, but that doesn’t mean they can’t trust God with all their hearts. Whatever is going on that’s troubling your understanding or feelings, don’t lean on or rely on that. If your thoughts counter what God says, then learn to cast them down. Negative or troublesome thoughts are one way the enemy tempts you. But the Bible says we are to slap those thoughts down: “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).
God said I’m healed. He said my needs are met. He said my steps are ordered. He keeps me. He protects me. With long life He will satisfy me. Those are the thoughts I choose to dwell and meditate on.
Psalm 5:11 says, “Let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice…” Almost every Psalm has in it the idea of trust and praise. Why? Because if
you’re trusting, you’re praising. One of the easiest ways to get in faith and rest, and stay there, is to thank God and praise Him genuinely all the time. You don’t do this if you believe it’s not working or it’s no use. You’re not going to say it’s not working because it is working! It has worked! No one will be able to get you to say, “What if?” because you don’t believe in what ifs. You don’t have to understand it. You don’t have to have all the answers. You just trust.
Frustration Is Not Faith
Some years ago, I was believing for a specific thing when it occurred to me that I’d been believing for a year and a half, and it seemed like I was further from it than I was when I started. I thought, What’s the deal? I was perplexed. I didn’t understand. And the Spirit of God said something I wasn’t expecting. He said, Keith, frustration is not faith.
Have you ever been frustrated? When you’re frustrated, you begin to waver and doubt. Before you know it, you’re in fear. Whether it’s mild dread or full-blown panic, it’s the same spirit, only different degrees. There’s a spirit of fear, but there’s also a spirit of faith. And there are different degrees of faith. There’s a little persuaded, partially persuaded, getting-there persuaded and sleeping-better persuaded. And then there’s father-of-faith Abraham, change-the-world, fully, fully persuaded. Fully persuaded is completely at rest. It’s fully persuaded just like you are about gravity or breathing oxygen out of the atmosphere.
What are you struggling about? Are you struggling over God’s Word being true? Are you struggling over His faithfulness? The good fight of faith is the fight, or the struggle, to enter into and stay in rest.
Faith is a decision. Make the decision today to trust, being fully persuaded that what He has promised He is faithful to perform. Then enter the rest and stay there until you get the answer you’ve been waiting for!
WORD SEARCH
Now that you’ve read Keith Moore’s article, Fully Persuaded, Completely at Rest, take a moment to reflect on his teaching, then remind yourself of the lesson by locating the words from the statement above in this puzzle.
The good fight of faith is the fight to enter into and stay in rest.
Circle the hidden words, crossing them off the list as you find them. Words can go horizontally, vertically, diagonally or backward.
Keith Moore is founder and president of Moore Life Ministries and Faith Life Church in both Branson, Mo.; and Sarasota, Fla. For more information or ministry materials visit moorelife.org
I A I D F A I T
C N B O M V D I J T G I E D T N S B S I G N I N B I I O D O E E T S G A W I
R T Y V R P F I J D F P D
S A C S C G D N M I S X R R V Y H I E K L G N Z E D
C S I Z R H N H T E W E G
Y T W E O P T S D R I I J
K A D X P V B N C R E S T J Y G I O D O Q V B L S G Y B N T I O N Z R S E O T G W W E R R Y U E P L K J U I S D E A N D C V B N M W N C R T V Y A O S W H R A Z H H N R F V Y H T I K
Q W E T E Y U F O P A S D W G H J Y N I K L Q A E T
by Jeremy Pearsons
EVERY MINUTE EVERY DAY ,
Ticktock, ticktock.
Where has the time gone? If you are near a clock with a second hand, or wearing a watch with one, take a 10-second break from reading this article and just watch as time marches on.
One-one thousand, two-one thousand, three….
Do you know what amazes me about this? Each of those 10 seconds is a moment in time that never existed before, and will never again be repeated. It lasts as long as the blink of an eye, yet this very second, now gone, is precious— perhaps even priceless. Anything this rare and undiscovered must be worth more than we realize.
“What is your five-year plan? Your 10- or 20year plan?”
Maybe you’ve been asked these questions before. I have asked them of myself. But in light of our discovery of the ever-moving second hand, let me ask a different question: What is your 10-minute plan?
Each of us, whether rich or poor, young or old, will share the same 1,440 minutes today. What if every minute of every day were treated as a precious, priceless and rare opportunity to live solely for the glory of God? Yes, I realize this is a big idea. And when I say big you are probably thinking impossible.
But listen to the heart of David in Psalm 63: “God, You are my God; early will I seek You…. When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches” (verses 1, 6, New King James Version). To me, the word early means only one thing: early. Early is when you get up for school. Early is when work starts. Early is catching a flight that leaves before anyone else is awake.
But for David, early is the time he seeks the face of God. Later, we find him remembering God upon his bed. I picture him lying there, unable to fall asleep because his thoughts of the splendor and goodness of God are far too real to be contained in dreams. From the beginning of his day to the end, and every moment in between, his life is filled with the awareness of the presence of God. When he was in a time of great need, he said in Psalm 55:17, “Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.” His relationship with God was an all-day thing.
Again, I know this sounds difficult at best, but does that mean we shouldn’t give our lives to this idea? A rabbi once asked if a man, witnessing the sea wash precious gems ashore, would refrain from gathering them because it would be too difficult to gather them all. Of course not! He would give all he had to gathering all he could.
The same should apply to us. Give all you have to living for God in the morning. If at the end of the morning you find you have made a mistake or slipped up, don’t be discouraged. Just turn, repent and give all you have in the afternoon. Start by giving God the next few minutes of your day. When you are done with those minutes, give Him the ones right after that. If you will do this simple thing over and over today, and in the days to follow, soon you will find that you are living every minute, every day, all for the glory of God.
Jeremy Pearsons and his wife, Sarah, are founders of Pearsons Ministries International and pastors of Legacy Church in Green Mountain Falls, Colo. For more information, visit them online at pearsonsministries.com or legacychurch.family
GO BEYOND THE HEADLINES
FEATURING TRUSTED VOICES, EXPERT ANALYSIS AND THOUGHTFUL DISCUSSION
CELEBRATING
Discover what today’s news means for believers—and for a nation founded on faith and freedom. As America marks 250 years of independence, Unclassified brings truth, clarity and perspective to the issues shaping our country.
by Gloria Copeland
Better Than a Miracle
We can walk in divine wisdom, live as man was originally designed to live and, instead of surviving from miracle to miracle, we can live every day in THE BLESSING of God.” “
If you could choose between living in THE BLESSING and living in miracles, which would you choose?
Most people would opt for the latter. They’d think about all the times in their lives they’ve needed God to rescue them from trouble, and decide that being able to get a miracle any time they needed it would truly be the best. But would it?
Certainly, miracles are marvelous. And when, in our time of need, God sends one, we’re always grateful. But is going from miracle to miracle really God’s highest plan for us? Is it really the best way to live? No, it’s not.
While it’s wonderful to be miraculously healed of sickness, it’s even better to walk continually in THE BLESSING of divine health so that you don’t get sick in the first place. While it’s wonderful to get miracle money in the mail when you’re too broke to pay your rent, it’s far better to live in THE BLESSING of divine prosperity so that you always have enough to pay your own bills and be a blessing to others.
I can attest to this from experience because Ken and I have lived both ways. For the first five years we were born again, we needed miracles a lot. Especially when it came to finances, we were always on the edge of disaster. God saw us through and miraculously kept us afloat, but I like where we are today much better. I don’t need a miracle to pay my light bill anymore. I’m not living in lack and financial desperation, because we’ve learned to walk in God’s blessing.
THE BLESSING has always been God’s plan for His people! That’s why in Genesis 1, the first thing He did when He created man was to bless him and put him in the Garden of Eden.
Adam didn’t need God to work miracles for him in Eden. He and Eve didn’t have to go to Him for healing or emergency supplies because sickness and lack didn’t exist in the Garden. Everything they needed to live a blessed life was available there in abundance, and all of it was good.
But, as we all know, Adam and Eve messed things up. They bowed their knee to the devil and disobeyed God by doing the one thing He told them not to do. They ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and their sin opened the door for the curse to come on the earth.
The curse is the opposite of THE BLESSING. It includes everything bad, all sickness and disease, all poverty and lack, every work of the devil that steals, kills and destroys.
The entrance of the curse, however, didn’t change God’s desire for His people. He still wanted them to be blessed. So, He made a covenant of blessing with Abraham and ultimately sent Jesus to earth to pay the price for our sins so that we could be redeemed from the curse and “the blessing of Abraham” might come on us through Him (Galatians 3:13-14).
“But I thought Jesus just provided us with salvation,” you might say.
He did, but salvation means more than you might think. The word salvation doesn’t just refer to forgiveness and a future in heaven. Salvation means “preservation, material and temporal deliverance from danger and apprehension. It denotes pardon, protection, liberty, health, restoration, soundness and wholeness.”
Look again at those last two words: soundness and wholeness. They sum up God’s will for us in every area of our lives. Spirit, soul and body, He wants us to be wholly blessed.
The Apostle Paul confirms this in his prayer in 1 Thessalonians 5:23. “The very God of peace sanctify you wholly;” he writes, “and…your whole spirit and soul and body be [kept sound and complete] unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
You Can’t Be Ignorant and BLESSED
If blessing, soundness and wholeness are God’s will for us as Christians, why aren’t we all experiencing it?
We haven’t experienced it because we don’t know enough about the Word of God.
As Keith Moore says, “We can be ignorant and get healed” (miraculously through the gifts of the Holy Spirit). “But if we want to live healed and in the continual blessing of God, we must know some things.” We must learn to think like God thinks and cooperate with Him.
His desire is for us to “prosper in all things and be in health,” but we can only do that as our “soul prospers” (3 John 2, New King James Version). And our soul can only prosper to the degree we know God’s thoughts and ways, because His thoughts and ways are right. If we’re not thinking and acting like He says, we’re wrong, and that puts us out of alignment with THE BLESSING.
That’s why God gave us His written Word. It’s also why Jesus said in Matthew 4:4, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
God’s Word is what teaches us how to walk in THE BLESSING. It’s as essential to our life as food
KEY POINTS
THE BLESSING has been God’s plan for His people ever since the Garden of Eden. (Gen. 1:28)
Adam and Eve didn’t need miracles in Eden because everything in it was good. (Gen. 1:31)
Sin opened the door to the curse, but Jesus has delivered us from the curse and restored THE BLESSING. (Gal. 3:13-14)
is. Everything God said in the Bible has been written for our good and advantage. Not just a few of His words but all of them “are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh” (Proverbs 4:22).
Feeding God’s Word into our hearts, believing it and obeying it are the keys to living the kind of life Jesus came to give us. God’s “word is truth,” He said. “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 17:17, 8:31-32).
The truth of God’s Word is good news! Apart from it there’s nothing to feed on in this dark world but bad news—and when you eat bad news, you get bad results. You wind up in trouble, turmoil, sickness and lack because you’re operating in the world’s system instead of God’s, so He can’t manifest Himself in your life the way He desires.
That’s the situation the people in Proverbs 1 got themselves into. “They…did not choose the fear of the LORD: They would [have] none of my counsel,” God said.
“They despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil” (verses 29-33).
Notice, according to those verses we get to choose the fruit we eat in our lives. We can choose to eat bad fruit by remaining simple (which means ignorant of God’s Word) or being foolish (which is to be knowingly disobedient to Him). Or we can choose to eat good fruit by honoring God and hearkening to what He said.
The key to living in THE BLESSING is learning to think like God thinks and walk in His ways. (Isa. 55:8-9)
Salvation includes preservation, material and temporal deliverance from danger and apprehension, health, restoration, soundness, and wholeness. (1 Thess. 5:23)
Personally, I like to live in a good place, enjoy a good life, and be free from the fear of evil, so I’ve made up my mind to eat good fruit. I’ve determined to put His Word first place in my life and follow the instructions He gave us in Isaiah 55:
Come ye, buy, and eat.... hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul
“HE SAYS, ‘LET YOUR SOUL delight ITSELF IN FATNESS.’ HE’S SAYING, ‘Feed ON MY THOUGHTS AND MY WORD, UNTIL YOUR SOUL IS fat and prosperous. THEN, YOU CAN REALLY LIVE!’”
delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live…. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts…. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it (verses 1-3, 9, 11).
It’s Good To Have a Fat Soul
Remember how I mentioned that 3 John 2 says we prosper and increase in health “as our soul prospers”? That’s what God is talking about when He says, “Let your soul delight itself in fatness.” He’s saying, “Feed on My thoughts and My Word, until your soul is fat and prosperous. Then, you can really live!”
It’s not necessarily good to have a fat body, but it’s great to have a fat soul. It’s wonderful when you’re so full of God’s Word that you’re continually seeing His promises come to pass in your life and
being increasingly conformed to His image.
“Wait a minute,” you might say, “I thought I was re-created in God’s image the instant I got born again.”
You were, in your spirit. The moment you received Jesus as your Lord, the old sinner you used to be on the inside passed away and your inner man was made the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:17, 21). Your outer man, however, didn’t undergo the same instantaneous change. Even if you were physically healed or delivered from something when you were born again, for the most part, unlike your spirit which was totally made new, your soul and body remained the same.
For them to change, you must be “transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2), and that’s a process. As you pursue that process, depending on how much you give yourself to God and His Word, over time you start looking on the outside like the born-again believer you are on the inside.
Your habits change.
Your countenance brightens.
Even elements of your personality change.
My personality is different today than it was when I first got born again. I used to be timid. I so disliked public speaking that the first time the pastor of a church where Kenneth was preaching asked me to get up and greet the people, I flatly refused. After spending a few years in the Word, however, that shyness vanished. I started preaching, and the devil couldn’t shut me up.
Really, the Word of God changed everything for Ken and me. Overall, we used to live at such a low level it was pitiful. We didn’t know what our future was or what job we should take. We lived in bondage to debt, and if sickness came, we didn’t know anything else to do but go to bed and be sick.
But just as Jesus said, as we continued in His Word, the truth made us free. It showed us how to make sure our future is bright and how to make wise decisions in life. It brought us out of debt, prospered us and gave us the faith to not only receive healing when we got sick, but to live well.
As a result, we’re not desperate people anymore! We have the joy of thinking God’s higher thoughts, walking in His higher ways and living in THE BLESSING.
is a good book to study. It doesn’t mince words. It says, “Do this…and you will be blessed. Do that…and you will be cursed.”
I’ll confess, many years ago I used to be a little afraid when I read those things. It seemed to me that, in some areas, doing what God said might really cost me. When Ken and I saw in Proverbs 22:7, for example, that “the borrower is servant to the lender” and that we’re to “owe no man any thing, but to love” (Romans 13:8), it looked to me like we were doomed.
We couldn’t see in the natural how we would get by without borrowing money. But somehow God gave us the boldness to obey Him anyway. We committed to living a debt-free lifestyle—and it turned out for our good.
That’s always the way it is with God’s Word. You don’t ever have to be afraid of doing what He says. Everything He tells you to do springs out of His love for you and His desire to bless you.
God’s
I’m not saying we never have any trouble. As long as we live in this world, trouble will come to all of us. But because Jesus has overcome the world, and we’re in Him, we can do what He says and triumph over trouble. We can come out of it whole, undamaged and intact because we’re living in THE BLESSING system.
One of the books in the Bible that lays that system out very clearly is Proverbs. The word proverbs in Hebrew means “something to rule your life by.” It’s the same word used in Genesis 1:18 that says God set lights in the heaven “to rule over the day and over the night.”
The more we honor God by ruling ourselves according to His principles, the more entrance He has into our lives and the more good He can do for us. So, if you’re eager to walk in His best, Proverbs
What’s more, His Word is His wisdom— and His wisdom works! “The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth” (Proverbs 3:19), so when we operate in His wisdom, the earth responds. It does for us what God originally created it to do, which was to produce freely all the things man needs to live in God’s highest good.
No wonder Proverbs 3:13 says, “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom!”
“Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her” (verses 16-18).
Talk about wonderful! God’s wisdom is “a tree of life.” That’s the tree God planted in the center of the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve never ate of that tree, but as believers we can. We can partake of it by hearkening to God’s Word and obeying Him.
We can walk in divine wisdom, live as man was originally designed to live and, instead of surviving from miracle to miracle, we can live every day in THE BLESSING of God.
Super Do-Gooders!
Superkids, the fruit of the month is a GOOD one. But, I’m not talking about apples or oranges.
Let’s look at our theme scripture, Galatians 5:22: “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness…” (New Living Translation).
That’s right! The fruit is GOODNESS!
But what is goodness? The real meaning may surprise you.
Think back to our study on kindness. In English, goodness simply means “the state of being good.” You’ve probably heard phrases like, “Be good today!” or “Be good at school!” a lot. Did you ever wonder, But how do I be GOOD? Our everyday idea of goodness, and the fruit of goodness mentioned in Galatians 5:22, are very different.
That’s because it is the life-union with Jesus that makes this possible. He doesn’t want us to struggle to be like Him. Instead of trying hard to be good, we simply allow HIS GOODNESS to flow out with explosive power!
In his book Sparkling Gems from the Greek, my friend Pastor Rick Renner shares something powerful about the meaning of goodness. He writes:
Galatians 5:22 tells us that one of the fruits of the Spirit is “goodness.” This word is translated from the Greek word agathusune, which comes from the word agathos, meaning good. But when agathos becomes the word agathusune, it means goodness in the sense of being good to someone. This word portrays a person who is generous, big-hearted, liberal and charitable. We would call this person a giver. This means one of the characteristics of the Holy Spirit—and one of the fruits He longs to produce in our lives—is the demonstration of care for others in physical and tangible ways. When we exhibit this characteristic by demonstrating care to others, we are acting like God Himself!
Superkid, you were made to be “good” like Jesus! Goodness is bigger than
behaving at school or at home. Being a giver means all the good that Jesus did is in you, ready to pour out! The Bible tells us in Acts 10:38 that God anointed Jesus with power, and that Jesus “went around doing good”; Jesus was filled by the same Spirit that fills you!
In his book, Pastor Rick says: “The words ‘doing good’ in Acts 10:38 are a translation of the Greek word euergeteo, an old word that denotes…a person who uses his financial resources to meet the needs of disadvantaged people. This word was used only to portray the provision of food, clothes or some other commodity to meet a physical or material need. Thus, the use of this word in Acts 10:38 emphatically means that a part of Jesus’ ministry was… meeting the physical…needs of people who were disadvantaged in some way.”
Superkid, not only are you empowered to be good— you are empowered to do good. You are made to be a giver and a blessing to others, and to help those who are sad, hurting or pressured by the devil! You are God’s do-gooder! You bring His love, help and power to people just by showing up, because you are filled with the same Spirit as Jesus Himself.
God’s goodness never stays to itself; it always flows toward someone. It gives,
The Superkid Creed says: I am a giver, not a taker.” “
restores and fills what’s empty. That’s who you are, Superkid. That’s your nature in Him.
The Superkid Creed says: I am a giver, not a taker.
Kids hear the words “don’t be selfish” a lot because the flesh is selfcentered (Galatians 5 says so!). But this is your moment of decision. Will you live like others, who struggle to be good? Or will you yield to the goodness of God on the inside and be INFUSED with the SUPER-natural desire to do good and be generous?
You are free to choose! Remembering the freedom we celebrate in July (Independence Day), let’s think on Galatians 5:13, The Passion Translation, which says: “Beloved ones, God has called us to live a life of freedom. But don’t view this wonderful freedom as an excuse to set up a base of operations in the natural realm. Constantly love each other and be committed to serve one another.”
Jesus is calling us to a new kind of freedom—empowered to love and give by His Spirit! So let’s say it together: Yes, Jesus! I am a giver, not a taker! I am free to live and do good just like You!
Commander Kellie
Kellie Copeland is the chief strategy officer at Kenneth Copeland Ministries and is the developer of the Superkid Academy curriculum. Through her ministry and as “Commander Kellie,” she fulfills the mission of drawing people of all ages into a personal, growing and powerful relationship with Jesus Christ.
Commander Kellie’s Corner
